We should never forget the damage caused by anti-gay propaganda

From Right Wing Watch:

James David Manning, the anti-gay Harlem pastor who has struck up an alliance with the anti-government group Oath Keepers, took to his “Manning Report” YouTube program yesterday to explain his theory of how people become gay. Just as various diseases are spread through sexual intercourse and saliva, Manning explained, so too is the “sodomite demon.” If you have had sex with or even kissed or been at the same restaurant as someone who has such “demons in their blood,” he warned, you may have been “introduced to these demons in your life, sodomy, when you had no defense.”

Some of you are no doubt laughing yourselves silly and you should. Idiocy like this is waaaay out of the mainstream.

But if your laughter leads you to forget, perhaps you need a lesson in history. There was a time when junk like this was endorsed by individuals seemingly in the mainstream. There are these images for example, which throw out pretty much the same vile connotation:

 

'Scott Walker implies that gays are pedophiles' & other Wed midday news briefs

Scott Walker

Scott Walker’s Offensive Claim About Gay Men And Children - I personally think that Walker will be the Republican nominee for president and if he wins, he will backdoor workers nationwide with as much zeal as he did those in Wisconsin. His implied comments about gays just underlines the fact that this man shouldn't be elected as dogcatcher.

Few School Districts Have Anti-Bullying Policies Protecting LGBT Students - THIS is a consummate disgrace.

 Heroic Texas Librarian Helps Save LGBT-Themed Books Targeted By Anti-Gay Residents – VIDEO - Wonderful lady!  

Tolerance wins in Texas! Watch Christians storm county meeting to censor LGBT books — and fail - More on the above insanity. Based on the stories I read as a child (Little Red Riding Hood getting eaten by the wolf, Rapunzel becoming pregnant by the visits of the prince to her tower (how the heck did you think the witch found out), Jack climbing the beanstalk and stealing the giant's treasures (that was before the sanitized version of the story which claimed that the giant had originally murdered Jack's father), a book showcasing lgbt lives seems rather tame.

 LGBT Elder Americans Act Introduced in Senate - Our community doesn't talk about the problems and issues of elder lgbts and it's high time that we do. 

 5,000 men and women to go naked to teach Obama a lesson about gays - You just KNOW this will not have the intended effect.

Anti-gay leader claims gay parents will lead their children to hell

It was bound to happen. Anti-gay personalities and spokespeople are so upset over 50-state marriage equality that they are now making ugly comments about children in same-sex households.

From Right Wing Watch:

Last night, Vision America's Rick Scarborough spoke at St. Andrew Baptist Church in Panama City, Florida, as part of the church's weekly "Spiritual Revolution - Reclaiming America" series, where he declared that the Supreme Court's gay marriage decision will kill this nation and warned that children will now be adopted by gay parents and wind up in Hell.

I guess Scarborough fails to realize how such rhetoric serves to alienate everyone except for the those truly converted to his rancor. And this isn't a large group. Even so, folks like Scarborough can call us anything they want. But they should really leave out kids out of their tantrums.

No matter because the gay community still have the right to marry, no matter what Scarborough or anyone else can drudge up by way of a scream. Comments like his should only make us stronger and more resolved to get everything we need besides marriage equality.

'Franklin Graham puts his two cents in about Caitlyn Jenner, moves into Kanye West territory' & other Tues midday news briefs

Franklin Graham - the white, evangelical version of Kanye West.

Franklin Graham says he finds it ‘hard to swallow’ that Caitlyn Jenner got Courage Award - Okay, I get the entire freedom of speech thing, but when a public figures feels the need to comment negatively on almost every lgbt public event, we are moving into demagogue territory here. And it doesn't matter that lgbts are ignoring Graham. His words are emboldening a bunch of ignorant folks. 

Anti-Gay Clerk: Following The Law Is A Violation Of My Rights - I present Exhibit A of the point of the above brief. One saving grace about this nut is that he is very vocal of the fact that he does not want to give ANY marriage license to ANY gay couple even though he knows its discrimination. And he will NOT resign either. He moved way past integrity a while back and is now deeply entrenched into ego. By all means, please proceed, sir.

  God V. Gays Is a False Narrative - Yes it is! And it's about time we started calling it out as such. Lgbts are people faith and we know how to pray and trust in God. Just because certain individuals now bogart the narrative doesn't mean that their view of religion is the only one which matters.  

Poll Finds Most Small Business Owners Oppose Anti-LGBT ‘Religious Freedom’ Laws - I bet you didn't even know THAT. 

 Ford Worker Fired For Anti-Gay Comment Sues For Religious Discrimination - Important case to watch. The notice he was responding to contained NOTHING about sex or the like. He posted a viciously nasty retort and is now claiming that he did so because of his faith. If he wins, then I guess folks can say all sorts of ugly things about lgbts and hide behind their religion.  

Pentagon Confirms Plans To Lift Ban On Transgender Military Service - And that would be awesome!

NOM makes awful attempt to distort marriage equality poll

Brian Brown, NOM tries to manipulate data.

Poor National Organization for Marriage. The organization is so delirious over its loss at SCOTUS that it is now attempting to convince supporters that there is now momentum against marriage equality:

 The evidence that the country is not embracing this ruling mounts every day. A nationwide survey of voters conducted by Reuters found that only 51% of Americans support same-sex 'marriage' following the Supreme Court ruling — a considerably smaller percentage than many national polls found prior to the ruling — and nearly two thirds of Republicans oppose the Supreme Court decision. Reuters noted that this will likely ensure that opposition to the Supreme Court ruling will be a pivotal issue in the selection of the Republican presidential nominee. 

The article in question by Reuters did say that a large number of Republicans  do not agree with the recent SCOTUS decision. And it the article also said that 51 percent of Americans in general support marriage equality after the ruling.

But NOM conveniently omitted to mention how many Americans in general do not support marriage equality. That number and what it means for Republican candidates who are publicly opposed to marriage equality reveal a totally different story than the one NOM is attempting to peddle :

When asked in general whether they support allowing same-sex couples to marry, 51 percent of Americans say they do, while 35 percent oppose it. Forty-eight percent of independent voters back gay marriage, making it difficult for a conservative Republican to win general election votes on the issue.  

Seems to me that NOM is still in the hole it was in before the ruling, i.e. more Americans support marriage equality while the anti-gay group finds outself outside the mainstream. And the more the NOM tries to dig out of that hole, the filthier it gets.

I do adore watching pigs rut in their natural habitat.

'Anti-gay judge wants gay couples to sign waiver before he marries them' & other Mon. midday news briefs

Todd Starnes - Christianity's worst nightmare.

Texas judge will perform same-sex weddings — but only if couples acknowledge his anti-LGBT beliefs - Someone must be out of his mind. I have NEVER heard of such a thing!  

Watch Fox host deliver unhinged anti-LGBT sermon: Chick-fil-A ‘is the official chicken of Jesus’ - When people ask me why does American Christianity get such a bad rap, I generally say two words - "Todd Starnes." 

Todd Starnes Delivers Ignorance-Packed Sermon About the “War on Religious Liberty” - More about Starnes' crazy weekend activities. I know he works for Fox but even THAT network should have standards. 

 Fox News' Special Report Demeans Transgender Teens As Impressionable Children With A Mental Disorder - Then again . . .  

The international war on LGBT people - About that lie that lgbts are attempting to persecute folks. . . .   

Huckabee: Christians Must Be 'Willing To Suffer' For Disobeying Gay Marriage Ruling - Yeah, yeah, yeah. You first, Huckabee. And we all KNOW that neither you nor the rest doing the talking about persecution will lose anything, ESPECIALLY those fat bank accounts.

 'Rumplepimple,' Children's Book, Wants To Normalize Same-Sex Relationships For Children - Because it needs to happen. The ignorant will think we are talking about sex, but to hell with them because we aren't.

The real story behind lgbt equality struggle is being ignored

For over three decades, anti-gay groups created this false image of the gay community.

Last night, I made the discovery that my work was used in a letter to the editor in the Grand Forks Herald:

The Huffington Post's Alvin McEwan characterizes the ACP as "a sham group camouflaging religious right distortion as legitimate research" and cites University of Minnesota professor Greg Remafedi, who claims the group has "distorted his work." And in fact, the list of scientists whose research has been distorted to support the religious right's bigotry against the LGBT community is staggering.

It was pretty cool to be cited and obviously the young lady read my online booklet, How They See Us, because she cited info from page 10 regarding the list of researchers whose work have been distorted by the anti-gay right.

But then the euphoria faded and I got a bit angry. Not at her, mind you, but the situation in general.

On two pages, I listed at least 12 examples over a number of years in which anti-gay groups and personalities have been caught lying about or distorting research.  How in the world did the media, including ours, miss this?

Do journalists dig for information anymore? While we busy ourselves with esoteric terms, while those who claim to be our allies (i.e. Kirsten Powers) write sloppy books hoping to follow the trend of fake pity for anti-gay groups and organizations who finally themselves out of the mainstream, and while those same anti-gay groups and organizations (and their allies at places such as Fox News) spin false stories of anti-Christian persecution at places such as bakeries, the real story seems to be getting ignored.

That real story is the over 30 year history of lies, distortions, and bearing of false witness by anti-gay groups designed to stigmatize the lgbt community.  Until THAT story is told, no matter how many victories we win, the lgbt community will always find ourselves on the defensive, trying to justify not only our existence but our right to have a normal life.